My brother in law is headed to Kuaii in a couple of weeks time and wants to take his 8wt along.They don't really care what they catch,they just want to enjoy the area and wet a line.

I have heard that there are some bonefish and trevally available there but don't know any of the details.I could really use some info on the fishing there,including what parts of the island would be best and most accessible to a fly angler.

What species of fish would be available and what flies(sizes,colors?) and techniques(retreives?) would be best for this area?

Also,I am wondering what kind of flylines he should be taking?He has a Airflow multi-tip line with some extra heavier heads as well.Will he also need a clear line?Will he need a shooting head system?

Any info would be greatly appreciated as I am tying some flies for him so I need to get some idea on patterns to tie pretty soon.

Thanks everyone.

juro

03-03-2003, 06:35 AM

Tony -

In addition to any direct responses I would recommend searching on "hawaii" as this has come up before. There are guys on board who have lived and/or fished there and done a lot of prospecting, I think he is in for a pleasant surprise.

With an 8wt, the venue will probably be shoreline fishing. I don't think the ahi or mahi mahi, roosterfish, billfish, etc will be accomodating to anything less than a 12-14 wt.

Adrian

03-03-2003, 09:54 AM

Tony

We picked up a timeshare a couple of years back on Kauaii but I've not taken a flyrod there - yet. This year will be different!

Last year I did some shoreline reef investigation with the polaroids and sure enough - there are schools of bonefish - the ones I saw were pretty small but they were the real thing.

I am taking 9 and 12wt outfits. My plans for the shoreline are prospecting drop-offs, reef edges, channels with clouser type patterns and see what comes up - wire is probably a good idea. Most things that live around reefs will attack flies with gusto!

One of the main prizes for the locals is Giant Trevally (ULUA) but there are not too many close inshore - they get pretty well hammered by the bait guys - you may get lucky.

A couple of charter boats make passing reference to fly rods but its not well developed yet - I may try a half day if there are school Tuna in close.

tonyd

03-11-2003, 02:48 AM

Thanks guys,I'll let you know how he makes out as he's leaving on Thursday for 2 weeks.

andre

03-16-2003, 10:23 AM

What a great island, there are some lakes with peacock bass, trout in the canyon, and off the rocks you can cast to Trevally and a host of other fish. I have only tried fishing once in three or four times to Kaua'i. Off the banks at Poipu I have watch locals hook fish but never seen one landed. I've been told that the flats near the honolulu airport hold the largest of the bones.

andre

Adrian

03-25-2003, 04:22 PM

I came across this whilst browsing another site recently. Its one of the best articles on Flyfishing Hawaii in general I've come across:

http://www.ncffb.org/Hawaii_Flyfishing_Primer.htm

I still have a bit more prep work to do before our trip on April 5th. I've been swapping emails with a local commercial fisherman on Kauai who's offering to show me some shore hotspots in exchange for a few flies. Sounds like a good deal to me ;)

tonyd

03-28-2003, 12:57 AM

Well,it turns out my brother in law only went for a week and didn't do much fishing due to extremely high winds and waves.He basicly said that fishing without a boat was almost impossible because of the waves and the "need" to get off shore a ways.He did fish around Poipu and hooked a few small fish but I don't think he tried anywhere else on the island.

Not much of a report unfortunately.

He did say that everyone over there,including the guides on boat they hired to do some deep sea fishing,had no idea what a flyrod was at all.He said everyone was using rods as big as telephone poles and reels the size of a small house.LOL!More work than fun when fighting fish.They got a few mahi mahi and a small marlin I believe.

Hopefully in due time,some of the guides over there will pick up on flyfishing and become more involved in that area to make good flyfishing trips possible.I guess there is one or two on one of the other islands but they never found anyone on Kauai itself.

Adrian

03-28-2003, 07:43 AM

Thanks for the report Tony. The weather would always be my first concern in the Hawaiian Islands when considering flyfishing especially from shore. Some of the most spectacular surfing conditions on earth means wind - often a lot of it and enough to make the immediate shoreline a very dangerous place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed - eight days and counting the hours now. Lots of flies to tie this week-end. If I dont get to fish them I'll be making a present to the local commercial guy I been swapping emails with so, a report of some sort will be forthcoming.

tonyd

03-28-2003, 04:27 PM

Good luck there Adrian.From the sounds of things the wind was by far the biggest factor,making it imposible to wade.

My brother in law was saying that there are ALOT of fish though,including bones,but you need a boat to get to them.The charter they hired didn't want to do anything but drag heavy gear through the deep waters.I would think that if asked,there must be guides would allow you to flycast to mahi mahi or other fish,rather than troll over them.As long as they get paid the same I don't know why they would object.